On September 9, 2022, the Beijing IP Court announced it had ruled in favor of Christian Louboutin against Guangdong Wanlima Industrial Co., Ltd. (广东万里马实业股份有限公司) in an unfair competition case involving red soled shoes. Louboutin was awarded 5 million RMB and an injunction. Louboutin sued at the Beijing Intellectual Property Court claiming Wanlima was selling women’s shoes with the same red sole online and in department stores thereby violating the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Anti-Unfair Competition suits are becoming a valuable enforcement …
Category: Trademarks
USPTO Issues Yet Another Show Cause Order Against a Chinese Firm for Fraudulent TM Filings
Update: This article has been updated to include a public response issued by respondent Shenzhen Seller Growth Network Technology Co., Ltd. In a show cause order dated September 7, 2022, the United Stated Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) accused Shenzhen Seller Growth Network Technology Co., Ltd, et al. of “unauthorized practice before the USPTO in trademark matters and providing false, fictitious, or fraudulent information in trademark submissions with the intent to circumvent these rules.” The order requires Respondents to show …
Excerpts from the September 2022 CNIPA Press Conference
In a September 6, 2022 press conference, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) discussed the release of the results from the 2021 National Intellectual Property Protection Social Satisfaction Survey. During the press conference, CNIPA officials discussed patent linkage cases, administrative adjudication cases and abnormal (irregular or fraudulent) patent applications. Excerpts follow.
USPTO: Chinese Firms Used Dead Attorney to Submit U.S. Trademark Application Filings
In a Show Cause Order dated August 25, 2022, the USPTO stated it has reason to believe that Shenzhen Haiyi Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. et al. “have provided false, fictitious or fraudulent information in thousands of trademark application and registration records.” Specifically, “Respondents have registered for, control, and/or operate one or more USPTO.gov accounts responsible for submitting documents that included (1) the electronic signature of attorney Jeffrey Firestone, including filings signed and submitted after his death, and/or (2) the signature …